Ava in Italia

RING RING RING! I woke up to my alarm blaring after I had hit snooze several times in an attempt to cling onto the last bits of sleep before the long day we had before us. It was 6 in the morning and while I was groggy and tired from our first week in Italy I was eager and excited for the long awaited trip that Dr. Horner and Dr. Dickson had prepared us for. Today was the day that we would be traveling into Florence to explore one of its most famous museums known for the masterpieces it holds within its ancient walls.
The Uffizi. Built in the heart of Florence, Italy in 1560, it was originally dedicated to the Medici family business but now is known as one of the world’s oldest museums and is home to numerous masterpieces. Most notably it houses The Birth of Venus and Primavera by Botticelli, Medusa by Caravaggio, and The Adoration of the Magi by Da Vinci.
We left our villa in Borgo San Lorenzo around 6:40 to make our 7:15 train into Florence. Dr. Horner had strategically gotten us up earlier so we could enjoy a sit down breakfast in Florence. The taste of my warm, flaky croissant and my greasy, crispy bacon made the early morning worth it. Now our next mission was to make it into the museum.

While you would think buying a ticket would secure a smooth entry into the Uffizi you are terribly mistaken. It can be a grueling process having your ticket constantly scanned, passport checked, and being monitored during security by Uffizi staff members that crack down on policies like the Nazis.
We were split into four groups to make the process more efficient and to go in waves so if one group got stopped another behind them could help. While in theory this should have made things easier, we encountered a hiccup with the tickets. After splitting into our assigned groups, Ryan, Cosette, Ashley, and I went to a nearby cafe to grab Ryan another cappuccino before we got in line for our time slot at 10:45. However, once we were in line to order we received an urgent message from Dr. Horner compelling us to run back to the Uffizi line as soon as possible. We dashed over before Ryan had the opportunity to order his highly coveted cappuccino and met up with the rest of our group to see what the issue was. Previously, we only had a rough looking picture of our tickets that Ryan, our group leader, had taken of Dr. Horner’s phone. On top of this, we did not have the proper tickets for each person. Cosette was the only one in our group of four that had the ticket with her name on it. Dr. Horner had discovered that today they were going to be checking the names on our ticket as well as scanning them to make sure we were not reusing a ticket or using someone else’s.

We were frazzled to say the least and you could tell that everyone was rushing and highly sensitive to the situation at hand. However, just in the nick of time, Elle sent over my ticket that was a clear screenshot with my name on it. Soon after I had received my ticket, Ashley and Ryan also got theirs and we were now ready to go through the line. Once we stepped into line we all felt a deep sense of relief and could relax until it was our turn to scan. Finally, it was my turn in line. BEEP! I had made it into the Uffizi at last!